Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)) Book

This small slim volume is a concise guide to using Oracle's SQL*Plus tool which acts as a front-end to the SQL querying language. Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference does not attempt to teach you how to use the language but provides a quick reference to the commands available and the ways in which they can be pressed into service.It's terse but informative, as befits a pocket guide, and so small that the usually entertaining O'Reilly colophon is omitted--which is a shame. The first half covers basic interactions such as string handling and naming variables, moving on to deal with selecting data, formatting reports and tuning SQL statements plus a section on formatting elements that let you do almost anything with number and date displays, including showing dates with a BC or AD indicator. In the tuning section there is brief coverage of execution plans for SQL statements and of how to tune the Oracle optimiser that puts those plans into operation. The second half forms the SQL command reference section, everything from ACCEPT to WHENEVER.This eminently pocketable reference book would be invaluable for jogging the memory in those odd moments of blankness-- and it's almost palmable if you're shy about admitting fallibility. --Mark WhitehornRead More